Darwin's Nightmare was directed by Hubert Sauper in 2004. This film documents how an area of Tanzania survives off of the fish in Lake Victoria. These fish were introduced into the area in the 1960s and since an entire industry has developed.
The impoverished community survives by jobs created through the fish market. One company said they had created at least one thousand jobs. However, the fish in the lake are not sustainable. The fish are deoxygenating the lake and eating their own young because of the lake of food. The lake is polluted, causing a decrease in the fish population as well.
There are many kinds of jobs available to populations that were created "directly and indirectly" by the fish industry. Eliza in a "girlfriend" to pilots that come in from Europe to export fish. She makes ten dollars to spend the night with them. There are many other girls that make money as prostitutes to pilots and business men. There are also prostitutes from the back lands that fishermen can afford. These men spend days away from their families and wives and thus turn to prostitutes for company. This job was indirectly created by the fish industry, but is not what one would consider a safe or healthy line of work. To what these young women suffer and the men with power to abuse them was horrifying. Eliza is murders by a pilot that paid for her one night. She was beaten and stabbed in the chest, the other prostitute are terrified, but have no other source of money and cannot give up the job they have, no matter how dangerous. The pilots of these cargo planes were not the most honest men. They were bringing in weapons and leaving with fish. They claim ignorance, but it is hard to believe that they did not know what they were importing to the country.
The film could have included actual income of the fishermen and the cost of living in the area. It would have also been interesting to know how high an occurrence of AIDs there is in this area. It was discussed that people were dying of HIV/AIDs, but no numbers were given on how prevalent it was in the population.
This film tugs on the viewers heartstrings by delving in the struggles of the children and young women. children were left on the streets while parents worked. It was discussed that many of the adults had drinking problems and spent what little money they had on alcohol. The men were spending so much time fishing to support their family that they could spend no time with their family. The children are often left to sleep in the streets. To comfort themselves they produce a sniffing glue. This allowed the children to sleep comfortably anywhere.
The film shows a radio report asking for 1.7 million American dollars so the UN would have the ability to fed 2 million people in central Tanzania. The people wish for a war because they see that England has been providing food for countries at war. The viewer is not left with a real way to help.
The impoverished community survives by jobs created through the fish market. One company said they had created at least one thousand jobs. However, the fish in the lake are not sustainable. The fish are deoxygenating the lake and eating their own young because of the lake of food. The lake is polluted, causing a decrease in the fish population as well.
There are many kinds of jobs available to populations that were created "directly and indirectly" by the fish industry. Eliza in a "girlfriend" to pilots that come in from Europe to export fish. She makes ten dollars to spend the night with them. There are many other girls that make money as prostitutes to pilots and business men. There are also prostitutes from the back lands that fishermen can afford. These men spend days away from their families and wives and thus turn to prostitutes for company. This job was indirectly created by the fish industry, but is not what one would consider a safe or healthy line of work. To what these young women suffer and the men with power to abuse them was horrifying. Eliza is murders by a pilot that paid for her one night. She was beaten and stabbed in the chest, the other prostitute are terrified, but have no other source of money and cannot give up the job they have, no matter how dangerous. The pilots of these cargo planes were not the most honest men. They were bringing in weapons and leaving with fish. They claim ignorance, but it is hard to believe that they did not know what they were importing to the country.
The film could have included actual income of the fishermen and the cost of living in the area. It would have also been interesting to know how high an occurrence of AIDs there is in this area. It was discussed that people were dying of HIV/AIDs, but no numbers were given on how prevalent it was in the population.
This film tugs on the viewers heartstrings by delving in the struggles of the children and young women. children were left on the streets while parents worked. It was discussed that many of the adults had drinking problems and spent what little money they had on alcohol. The men were spending so much time fishing to support their family that they could spend no time with their family. The children are often left to sleep in the streets. To comfort themselves they produce a sniffing glue. This allowed the children to sleep comfortably anywhere.
The film shows a radio report asking for 1.7 million American dollars so the UN would have the ability to fed 2 million people in central Tanzania. The people wish for a war because they see that England has been providing food for countries at war. The viewer is not left with a real way to help.